Two seriously hurt after jumping from tractor-trailer

Two people - a 23-year-old woman and a girl about 10 years old - were seriously injured Tuesday night when an official said they jumped from a moving vehicle in Jackson County.

Capt. Bruce McConathy, of the Edna Police Department, said the two victims, both suspected to be illegal immigrants, were apparently hitching a ride on top of the cab of a tractor-trailer.

He said the woman and girl jumped from the fast-moving truck about 9:40 p.m. near the Edna exit on northbound U.S. Highway 59. The listed speed limit for that stretch of highway is 75 mph.

Both were rushed by helicopter to separate regional hospitals. The woman was taken to Houston, and the girl taken to Corpus Christi.

"I'm not a medical expert, but they were in bad shape," McConathy said about 11:45 p.m.

Their medical conditions were not available. Their names were withheld, McConathy said, until authorities could contact the El Salvador consulate in Houston. The woman had an identification card indicating that she was from the nation in Central America.

McConathy said the truck driver did not know the two had stowed away on his rig, but heard them on top of the cab, behind the air spoiler, before they jumped.